Through Her Eyes
by Just Lil Ole Me
Summary: Imprinting always seems to happen just out of the blue. No warning at all. How does Paul react when it's finally his turn and his imprint is not what he expected at all? Paul/Rachel, Rated T, ONE SHOT!


**A/N** : Based on a prompt from Tricky Raven, this piece is a twist on a Twi. pairing that I've managed to avoid up until this point. Don't ask me why but I'm just not a fan of canon pairs at all. The prompt was a text prompt that read "What do moonbeams smell like?" if you were curious. ;)

 **Feel free to read, review, favorite, poke me...I'm the talkative sort so don't hesitate. LOL**

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"What the F….!"

Strong arms grabbed Paul before he was able to finish that expletive, dragging him into the nearby woods. He kicked and he growled but neither Sam nor Jared would let go. They threw him on the ground and stood over him.

"CALM DOWN." Sam ordered, glaring at him. "You can't change what just happened. Scaring that poor girl will not help matters."

"But why her?" Paul shook his head, calming down as ordered. His shoulders drooped in defeat as his mind whirled with a vision of her…Rachel Black. She had walked into the circle around the bonfire, holding her father's hand. With one quick glance, Paul's life changed forever. He was bound, heart and soul, to a blind girl.

Jared sat down to reason with him. "Who knows why the Spirits chose her but you can't fight this. You know what happens if you do." The rest of that explanation was left unspoken. No one wanted a repeat of Sam's situation with Emily and Leah.

Defeated, Paul finally nodded his head. "Fine, but this will never work."

"You never know. Give her a chance, alright?" His best friend encouraged him.

"Whatever…" Paul got up from where he sat and trudged grudgingly back to the bonfire.

Old Quil was finishing telling a legend as Paul reclaimed his seat across the fire from her. His eyes followed her every movement as the light from the fire flickered over her beautiful face. He shook his head. The pull of the imprint was stronger than he could have ever imagined. He knew he was falling for Rachel and they hadn't even spoken a word to each other yet.

A shuffling sound to his right made him look over his shoulder to find Old Qui smiling at him. "Sometimes, Life hands us what we think is a curse but it turns into a blessing in disguise." The old man patted him on the shoulder and then walked towards the table full of desserts.

As the crowds around the bonfire dispersed, Paul decided he should at least speak to the girl. He walked to the spot where she sat on the fallen log. "Hi, Rachel. I'm Paul." He spoke hesitantly, unsure of how to carry on a conversation with a blind person.

He was rewarded with a bright, Black smile. "Hello, Paul. Please have a seat." Her small hand patted the spot beside her, trusting him implicitly. "I've just recently returned to the reservation and I feel like I don't know anyone here anymore."

Paul had heard that she had been raised by her aunt off reservation since Billy hadn't been able to care for her and Jake at the same time. The accident that claimed his legs, her sight and her mother's life had left her father rocked to the core. With the help of that aunt, Rachel had managed to grow into a well-adapted and educated young lady. Now a graduate of UWA, she had returned to live with her father since her sister Rebecca had ran off to Hawaii with her now husband.

Unable to stop himself, he smiled. Then, he realized that she couldn't see that. His mind worked. _How does someone get to know a blind person who can't see your body language or your face for that matter?_

"Um….I don't want to be rude, but can I see you…my way?" Rachel asked hesitantly.

"Uh…yeah, sure." Paul replied and watched as her hands lifted to his face, tracing over softly his features as if she was memorizing them. He had never felt something so oddly intimate in his life.

"You're a handsome devil, aren't you?" She grinned.

"I'd like to think so." Paul chuckled as his guard dropped. She didn't know his past nor the rumors that surrounded him. Without realizing it, she could see the true Paul that he kept buried underneath.

"Tell me how you like living here on the res. So much seems to have changed since I left." With that simple request, Paul spent the rest of the night explaining to her how life had changed on the res, the new school that had been built, and the growth of the tribe but leaving out the return of the Protectors. He would need time to figure out how to explain that one.

Over the next few weeks, neither Jared nor Sam had to look far to find Paul when he wasn't on patrol because the Old Paul no longer existed; gone were his days of womanizing and booze. He was most often found over at the Black place, talking to Rachel and Billy and annoying Jake to no end. His mind was consumed with Rachel and making her smile again; something he had never even once considered with other women. They would take short walks along the beach, sit in the field surrounded by wildflowers or simply on the front porch. All the while, Paul chattered to her, giving her every detail of life and learning to appreciate to appreciate it through her eyes.

One night, they sat on the back deck under the light of a full moon, talking about anything and everything. Out of the blue, Paul asked her a question. "Rach, what does the moonlight smell like to you?"

She sniffed the night air, her face shining in the moonlight. "It smells of gentleness, clarity…and love." Her hand reached over, taking his.

Mesmerized by her beauty, he had never mentioned their imprint bond or that he had fallen in love with her. He did not want to take advantage of her in any fashion, preferring uncharacteristically to let her come to him in her own time.

"I love you, Rachel." He whispered, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Ever since that first night at the bonfire, I've thought of no one but you."

She nodded her head. "And that night, I knew you were the one for me the very first time I saw your face."


End file.
